I am giving a paper at a conference at the new British Library. Before I start speaking, I visit the sparkling toilets designed in chrome and glass. I go to wash my hands in one of the line of new basins. Perhaps a little nervous, I push down the plunger on the chrome soap dispenser with unrequired force. A gobbet of soap jets out from the nozzle, shoots over my hands, over the sink and lands on the crotch of my freshly-washed trousers.